Well good morning, good afternoon and good evening, wherever you are in the world, hello and welcome to the Wednesday 12th September edition of EV News Daily. It’s Martyn Lee here with the news you need to know about electric cars and the move towards sustainable transport.

Thank you to MYEV.com for helping make this show, they’ve built the first marketplace specifically for Electric Vehicles. It’s a totally free marketplace that simplifies the buying and selling process, and help you learn about EVs along the way too.

Some housekeeping first of all, I feel bad I didn’t pay reference to yesterday’s show being on 9/11 and I know you don’t expect it, but I feel I wanted to as so many of you listening as in the U.S.

Also a mention for National Drive Electric Week which continues in the USA, Canada and New Zealand.

It’s making the UK news over here that hurricane Florence looks to be threatening East Coast and could make landfall at North or South Carolina in a few days. There has been an evacuation of 1 million people ordered by South Carolina Gov. I remember with Florida last year, as well as images of long queues at gas stations, EV charging stations were busy and there’s the chance of power failure. Tesla even software unlocked extra capacity in some cars to help their drivers charge more. However with electricity being more generally available remember if you can help your fellow EV owners with a charge, or help them out, please do.Think about your evac route, and make sure you’re up to date on locations for PlugShare, ChargePoint, EVgo. Please stay safe.

WORLD’S FIRST ZERO EMISSION SUMMIT

The International Zero Emission Vehicle Summit in Birmingham, with an audience of international government ministers and industry leaders.

WE’ll start with His Royal Highness, The Prince of Wales

Our Prime Minister Theresa May was there, which generated a whole day of mainstream TV and Radio coverage all about electric cars. Admittedly a lot of reports were pretty basic, sometimes focussing on range anxiety or lack or chargers, but most TV reports I saw today were pretty straightforward. The PM said: “I have set this country an ambitious mission. To put the UK at the forefront of the design and manufacturing of zero-emission vehicles. Our electric, UK-manufactured cars account for one-in-five sold in Europe. Our batteries are among the best in the world. And our Road to Zero Strategy is the most comprehensive plan globally – mapping out in detail how we will reach our target for all new cars and vans to be, effectively, zero emission by 2040. We have long lived with the idea that traffic is polluting. We know that no longer needs to be true. And we are on the brink of making it a thing of the past.”

The CBI say Government must support people to make the switch from fossil fuel to zero-emission cars by helping to make them affordable and building the infrastructure needed to run them. Carolyn Fairbairn, CBI Director-General: “In the race to create new products, let us agree common standards. It will take consultation and collaboration, but if emissions are a global problem then we need global solutions.”

California Gov. Jerry Brown called President Donald Trump the “saboteur” of the American car industry because of his efforts to bolster the fossil-fuel industry over more environmentally friendly electric cars, he said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times. The California governor criticized the Trump administration’s move in August to scrap an initiative requiring all US cars and trucks to average more than 50 miles per gallon by 2025.

Brown said that Trump’s moves would ultimately help countries like China, where companies are going all-in on battery-powered vehicles and related technologies.

According to Business Insider: “Brown, who is considered a leading advocate for environmental regulation, signed an executive order in January calling for at least five million of the vehicles on the road in California to produce zero emission by 2030. The $2.5 billion project outlined plans for the state to build 250,000 new charging stations for electric vehicles by 2025, according to Brown’s executive order.”

“New economic data puts the California economy at $2.747 trillion — bigger than most nations. The ranking puts in fifth in the world, just ahead of the United Kingdom, which is on $2.625 trillion. The difference is striking given California’s population of 40 million to the UK’s 66 million.”

Just a month after its launch, Kia Motors’ Niro electric vehicle (EV) became the bestselling EV in August, with 976 of the cars here. With the domestic EV trailblazer Hyundai Ioniq taking a back seat, the electric SUV is quickly surging as the new market leader.” according to the webstie Korea Times: “Kia Motors attributes the brisk sales to the vehicle’s efficiency: it has a range of 385 kilometers on a single charge, seats five comfortably, and offers various safety and convenience features at prices that are in an affordable range. In releasing the Niro EV, Kia Motors added paddle-shift-like levers behind the steering wheel, which control the level of regenerative braking in four steps. The higher the step is, the quicker the car slows when the driver releases the throttle pedal. When the driver presses and holds the right paddle, the car then automatically selects the level of regenerative braking depending on the road data it receives through sensors.”

“When the subsidies from the central government and Seoul Metropolitan Government are taken into account, the Niro EV price starts at 30.8 million won”

“Britain is to get its first manufacturing site dedicated to making batteries for electric cars. Williams Grand Prix Holdings, parent company of the Williams Formula One motor racing team, is working with Unipart, the motor components group, to start production for Aston Martin’s first electric supercar, the RapidE.” reports Robert Lea for The Times: “The joint venture is a significant boost for the automotive industry and the government’s industrial strategy, which has identified electric cars as a key pillar of future growth.”

Aston Martin’s upcoming all-electric Rapide E saloon, of which only 155 examples will be produced, will be the first customer of the new company.

The site 48,000sq ft site in Coventry has the capacity to produce 10,000 lithium-ion batteries per year.

TESLA MODEL S OPEN TO HACKING, AN EASY FIX

“Hackers can likely quickly and easily steal your Tesla Model S, but this high-tech heist comes with a catch: There’s a simple way to prevent it. Tesla claims that cars sold after June of 2018 aren’t susceptible to being stolen by this technique, but that still leaves a lot of vulnerable vehicles that are” according to Mashable.

Researcher Lennert Wouters told Wired: “Today it’s very easy for us to clone these key fobs in a matter of seconds. We can completely impersonate the key fob and open and drive the vehicle.”

“According to TechGuide, Tesla just pushed a software update for the Model S that allows owners to set a 4-digit passcode that must be entered before the car can be driven. With that PIN protection enabled, your car would theoretically be protected from the hack shown above.”

“Last week, for example, the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Tesla about “High Voltage Electrolysis of Coolant in a Battery Pack” that was originally filed May 3, 2018. The USPTO also published a Tesla patent application about solar roof tiles last Thursday.” according to Forbes: “The battery coolant patent describes a new cooling system that uses a coolant solution with two different liquids in it. These liquids are mixed together to form a new liquid that then has different boiling points as the predetermined ratio of liquid changes. A sensor in the system monitors the battery modules for a high voltage electrolysis and responds with a remediation system “to decrease risks associated with the possible high voltage electrolysis when operated.” The goal, as you might suspect, is to “limit possible excessive thermal conditions of the individual battery cells and modules.”

TESLA ADDRESSES PAINT SHOP BOTTLENECK BY DITCHING TWO COLOR OPTIONS

“Tesla solves paint shop bottleneck by cutting two colors, which in turn should up production.

Tesla produced more cars than ever of late and intends to increase the production pace even further, but the paint shop turns out to be a bottleneck.” says Mark at InsideEVs: “Elon Musk announced that Tesla needs to drop two out of seven possible colors – Obsidian Black and Metallic Silver – from the base offer, to simplify manufacturing.”

“LEVC (London EV Company) has announced that it is due to start trials with potential customers of its new electric van in London in the second half of 2019.

The business is currently in discussion with a number of major public-sector fleets about joining the trials of prototype vehicles. This includes the Metropolitan Police Service and the London Fire Brigade – both of whom have ambitious programmes to clean up their vehicle fleets, with a target for all new vans being zero emission capable from 2025.

Earlier this year LEVC, who currently manufactures the world’s most advanced electric taxi, announced it would be entering the van market with a zero-emission capable product. The product combines 70 years of knowledge of designing vehicles for city streets with a proven electric vehicle powertrain.

Like the taxi, the van will combine a fully electric powertrain with an economical petrol range-extender, This approach means cleaner vehicles that are able to go the distance but also lower running costs. LEVC expect that the vehicle – for its size – will deliver a competitive total cost of ownership.”

UK automotive clean tech firm AVID Technology has appointed Mike Dowsett Vice President of Business Development to lead the company’s expansion in North America. Mr. Dowsett will lead the business growth strategy and operations at AVID’s new US office in Michigan.

I’ve spoken to Ryan Maughan on this show before when he joined us for a Saturday Special.

Mike Dowsett said: “The electric vehicle industry is thriving globally and going through a period of rapid development and innovation. I’m looking forward to building and consolidating the company’s growing customer base in North America; it’s a great time for the right people with the right products and expertise to make an impact.”

And thanks to MYEV.com they’ve set us another Question Of The Week. Keep your comments coming in on email and YouTube…

Where do you go for information when considering buying an EV, or researching a specific make and model. Is there one trusted source you use, or do you use everything from news sites like InsideEVs, to YouTube vlogs to auto makers official website pages. What about when you want to know about things like charging or incentives?

I want to say a heartfelt thank you to the 74 patrons of this podcast whose generosity means I get to keep making this show, which aims to entertain and inform thousands of listeners every day about a brighter future. By no means do you have to check out Patreon but if it’s something you’ve been thinking about, by all means look at patreon.com/evnewsdaily

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